Madoka pretty much blew my mind this week with an absolutely amazing episode. As much as I loved last episode, and will have a soft spot for it, I think this week was by far the best epiosde of Madoka, and has made watching the whole series worth it. No matter how it ends, it’s been worth it. I also bet the episode will be sub-standard compared to that ending. This is probably the only time we’ll see Madoka as a magical girl.

So. A run down of my observations this episode. A note that a running motif(right word?) in this series is fate, and through the various timelines, we can see what is fated to happen.

Mami, Madoka, and Homura were friends.

Remember back in episode 3 when Mami does her bondage action on Homura, and Homura looks shocked? Homura wasn’t as close as she was Madoka, but she and Mami were still friends, and partners in battle. It would have been devastating to have been attacked by Mami.

Sayaka is strangely missing from all but one timeline

It seems that Sayaka is a total wild card. In only one time line is Sayaka seen around Madoka, and becomes a mahou shoujo. It’s the only timeline we see all five mahou shoujo together–although one is a witch when that happens. No wonder Homura couldn’t save her…Homura hadn’t gone through her situation countless times like she had Madoka’s. But that one timeline makes it clear that it’s no wonder Homura hates Sayaka. Sayaka is responsible for the death of three mahou shoujo (counting herself) and traumatizing Madoka. On top of that, Homura shoots Madoka.

Also worth noting is in Sayaka becomes a witch timeline, Kyouko tries to save her. Her love for Sayaka is fate. It also seems that when Sayaka becomes a witch, Kyouko’s death may be certain.

Mami’s death in the current timeline, though tragic, may have been the kindest thing for her.

No matter what, she dies. Usually in Walspurgisnacht. But see what happens when Mami finds the truth about being a mahou shoujo? She snaps, and when she snaps, she starts killing her friends. An awesome and terrifying moment. This is probably a much better fate for her.

Remember the conversation that Homura had with Madoka, when Madoka asked Homura how she could be so cold about Mami’s death?

Homura told her she’d seen countless mahou shoujo die.

What we didn’t know until now…most of those mahou shoujo were repeated deaths of Mami and Madoka, with Sayaka and Kyouko thrown in.

Homura protecting Madoka has hindered her character development

First off, I ask to read Scamp’s article here. How many times have I read about people complaining about Madoka being useless? Yet when we meet the Madoka that Homura meets, she’s a strong girl that stands up to Walspurgnacht, and is able to do many things the current Madoka may not be able to do, such as kill Mami, and ask Homura to kill her. Yes, Homura has kept Madoka from becoming a mahou shoujo, and thus a witch, but because Madoka has been sheltered, she hasn’t undergone the character growth seen in the other time lines. Instead she just cries a lot. Homura is doing what she thinks is best, and if Madoka doesn’t become a mahou shoujo, she won’t become a witch, but still, what a blow to Madoka.

Kyubei is a fucking liar

But who’s surprised? To be fair, he is collecting energy. He’s just lied about the whole ‘greater good of the human race.’

Also, am I the only one who is reminded of another character that is stuck watching the same scenario over and over why she desperately tries to alter events to get a different result?

12 responses to “The Homura Episode”

I noticed “Homura protecting Madoka has hindered her character development” as well but there’s a counter side to this – Madoka is a stronger Puella Magi when she’s a weaker character. In the original timeline she was a very confident person but she had to practice to get ready for Walspurgisnacht which contrasts to the most recent previous timeline (when Homura made sure that Kyubey never contacted Madoka) where she makes the contract only after seeing Homura apparently failing to defeat the witch and is able to one shot kill the witch.

And I still think this could end happily – just imagine if Madoka wishes that Kyubey’s people had developed emotions/a soul after perfecting their anti-entropy plan and never made contact with humans. This should undo Homura’s wish/contract (and revert her back to a sickly, shy girl) and if Mami’s car accident was caused by a witch (I remember it being mentioned that witches cause car accidents) it never would have happened and Kyouko would just a poor daughter of a failed preacher put she’d still have a family.

Ohmigod, the end of this article–I was just about to do a post on that! I’m still going to, because it was going to basically be a 2-sentence, throw in a picture post, haha.

I cried in this episode. For Homura, for Madoka, for Mami, for…everyone. Except Sayaka. I have reached the conclusion that I don’t much like Sayaka. And of course I didn’t cry for Kyubey. Who the hell cries for Kyubey? More like “cheer on his death”. Not that it does much good, since who knows how many bodies that evil little furball has available to him.

I rewatched this episode 4 times because it was so good. The way I see it, things aren’t going too well for the girls. Every time Homura goes back, the situation gets worse and she increases the amount of energy Kyubey is able to collect (notice how Madoka wasn’t the “strongest” in the first timeline). It looks like the more distraught Madoka is, the stronger puella magi she becomes, and the more Homura is playing into Kyubey’s plans.